For information and registration, please visit our EVENT page here.

If you are interested in volunteering, we invite you to add your name and email to the eList so we can contact you.

We will be having a Kick Off Meeting on April 22 to start the ball rolling!!! More details to come.

During bedtime last week, we had a really challenging moment with my daughter, who just turned 13 years old.

She was quite excited about entering the teen years – at first. She had a birthday party, and then got Facebook, AND even got a phone….”FINALLY!” she exclaimed.

What ensued about two weeks later was a total emotional breakdown with tears, and weeping, and confusion, and so many emotions!  Nothing I said or did seemed to help.  Nothing, that is, until I began to just let her be in the moment of the feelings.  I became silent, rubbed her back, kissed her cheek, and just sat with her as she went through the ups and downs of the hormonal roller coaster.

Here are a few things that came out of her mouth:

“But I don’t WANT to be thirteen!”

“It’s not fair, I want to be little again.”

“Why do I have to turn thirteen!”

“I don’t understand why I’m feeling like this, Mum!”

After about 20+ minutes – and yes it felt like much much longer – she asked for some kleenex, blew her nose and said she was getting tired. My heart wept for her during the entire time, and I just wanted to hold her like a little baby and tell her it’ll be alright.

What I learned was that no matter what I said or did….it didn’t help.  In fact, the less I said the better.  The more I just sat and ensured her that I didn’t have anywhere else to go except to be there with her as she went through this, she seemed to become more calm.

So upon reflection, I would offer some wisdom to those who have young teens in their lives.

Talk less.   Listen listen listen.  Love them compassionately and unconditionally.

And please….let your daughters cry and feel what they need to feel.

We all know that Adobe Photoshop is one of the most incredible software tools of our time.  However, do you know that almost every advertisement is ‘photoshopped’ – or as I like to call it “photocropped” – in order to sell, sell, sell.

The message in this video, “Killing Us Softly 4: Advertising’s Image of Women” is created by Jean Kilbourne.  Jean is a feminist author, speaker, and filmmaker who is internationally recognized for her groundbreaking work on the image of women in advertising and her critical studies of alcohol and tobacco advertising.

Please watch and listen to these few minutes – my hope is that it will help us continue to be aware of the subtle messages that advertising throws at us.  Let’s keep the conversations open and continue helping young women (AND young men) realize that the photos they see in magazines, on TV and in film is a false goal that has NO truth in it whatsoever.

Please pass this on….

Our thanks to Erica Ehm and her YummyMummyClub for partnering with the Dove Movement!

Check out DoveMovement.com for more details.

We are really excited about this movement – let’s all be part of it!!!

I decided to share it here, as a reminder to myself, and a beacon of inspiration for those who visit so they might join us in building this organization.  Also, it’s to provide a little more background to what it means to both attend and volunteer for the Weekend itself.  I am grateful to all who have supported me over the last 12 years to continue building the YWDS.  You have kept me inspired to stay true to my heart and  and to move forward in holding the Weekends.

We are dedicated to creating an incredible and empowering event for all involved. The Discovery Experience is a safe, dynamic and creative space where girls and women are able to really look deep within, see themselves in a new light and discover what makes them who they are. It is a transformative event where the young women are given the opportunity to both lead and follow in a truly self-directed process.

We are only the facilitators in this ever changing process. Each weekend is different because every group is made up of new and dynamic young women. The agenda tends to have an outline and focus, but in truth the girls drive where the weekend goes. And it is always an incredible experience for all involved.

We hope to instill confidence, trust, self-care, self-acceptance, leadership and whatever else the girls come to the weekend for. Self-awareness is the greatest gift and we are inspired to shed some light so they may find themselves.

This talk inspired me to have our time with the girls be more youth-directed than ever before. Please share this with anyone you know – and invite the young women in your life to join us.

We look forward to creating the space to see what can happen!!!

Post by Verena

Me to We is an amazing social enterprise created by the Kielberger brothers, Mark and Craig, and it has experienced incredible growth since its inception.  This organization challenges traditional methods of doing business by providing people with daily choices that can truly change the world.

This summer, you can join other young people in learning and having an incredibly fun time at the Leadership Academy being held at UBC campus.

Check out their website and spread the word.  If you have an interest in meeting other young people who want to help make a little difference in their lives, then explore this leadership academy and have some fun this summer!

We are proud to announce that plans for the upcoming weekend are in the works.  Visit often to find out more!

All volunteers and participants are invited to email us at info@discoveryweekend.ca to get on our mailing list so we can send you info as it comes.  AND you can subscribe to this site to be notified when changes happen.